LAKELAND, Fla. -- At this point, there's no guarantee that Justin Verlander will make or miss his first start of the regular season.
Verlander left Friday's game in Dunedin, Fla., against Toronto with two outs in the third inning because of a cramp in his right triceps muscle.
Verlander did some light tossing Sunday when the team was in Clearwater and was still a little sore.
So in the game notes, Shane Greene appeared as the starter for Thursday's game, which was when Verlander was originally slated to go.
"Still a little sore today," Verlander said. "I think the thing is we're going to wait until all the soreness is out to start throwing again. When that is, I'm not 100 percent. Every day's been a little bit better. I really think today is honestly the biggest hump day for me, kind of the peak of the wave. I think it will start dramatically getting better after today."
Verlander said the soreness is now completely isolated to the triceps muscle.
While Thursday is out, Friday remains up in the air.
"There's no point, especially at this point in the year, pushing it to get back out there in a hurry and risk losing time during the season," Verlander said. "That's not a smart move. Time's on my side right now so I'm going to use it."
Verlander said he really pushed himself in the offseason, including when he was on vacation, to get ready for this season.
Verlander worked with physical therapists and trainers to try to get back to where he was before undergoing core muscle surgery last January.
"In talking to people, I honestly think all the work that I put in this offseason to get mobility back and lengthen and get my arm working the way it's supposed to work, it hadn't done that in a while and I think it was maybe a little shock to the system, just kind of grabbed on me a little bit," Verlander said. "All in all, I'm positive and I think the strides I've made are positive, just my body's got to get used to it again."
David Price has already been named the starter for next Monday, Opening Day, against the Minnesota Twins.
The Tigers then have an off day Tuesday, placed on the schedule in case of a weather issue for Opening Day.
So Verlander could conceivably wait until the weekend series in Cleveland to pitch.
"I don't really know the plan moving forward, just kind of a day by day type situation," Verlander said. "I'm not concerned. If anything, I'm optimistic about it, for all the reasons that I just touched on."
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